Shadow of Death Hangs over Reich Jews, Stephens Warns

June 15, 1934

London (May. 28)

An account of the plight of the German Jews is published in the current issue of the Daily Express. Pembroke Stephens, former correspondent in Germany for the newspaper, and who was held in a Nazi prison, writes that the shadow of death hangs over every Jew living in Hitler’s Third Reich.

“I have spent the past few days visiting districts where the Jews are reported to be suffering most keenly,” the article continues. “There are now roughly 500,000 Jews in Germany; 100,000 of them have emigratedâ€”50,000 to Palestine and the Orient, 50,000 to the rest of Europe.

“A man or woman who marries a Jew forfeits position, wealth, influence, respect. There is no exception, however highly placed, to the cruel rule.

“Some Jews have been allowed to retain their place in industry, but tolerance of the Jew in business is only due to fear of upsetting trade.

“But there are still judges in Germany, and a Nazi, of Barmen, who despoiled twenty-eight Jewish graves, was sentenced to thirteen months.

“In a big town a Jew can hide himself. In a village he is isolated and exposed. Friends of fifty years’ standing do not greet their old Jewish friends when they meet them in the village; they look the other way. Jewish children are boycotted by former playmates as if they had the plague; farmers willing to borrow money from the small Jewish trader in democratic days do not take their debts seriously; customers prefer not to buy in Jewish shops, and storm-troopers stand outside the doors of Jewish cinemas warning visitors away.